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Doug Sahm was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist of legendary range and reputation. The first American musician to capitalize on the 1960s British invasion, Sahm vaulted to international fame leading a faux-British band called the Sir Douglas Quintet, whose hits included "She's About a Mover," "The Rains Came," and "Mendocino." He made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1968 and 1971 and performed with the Grateful Dead, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, and Bob Dylan.

Texas Tornado is the first biography of this national music legend. Jan Reid traces the whole arc of Sahm's incredibly versatile musical career, as well as the manic energy that drove his sometimes turbulent personal life and loves. Reid follows Sahm from his youth in San Antonio as a prodigy steel guitar player through his breakout success with the Sir Douglas Quintet and his move to California, where, with an inventive take on blues, rock, country, and jazz, he became a star in San Francisco and invented the "cosmic cowboy" vogue. Reid also chronicles Sahm's later return to Texas and to chart success with the Grammy Award–winning Texas Tornados, a rowdy "conjunto rock and roll band" that he modeled on the Beatles and which included Sir Douglas alum Augie Meyers and Tejano icons Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez.

With his exceptional talent and a career that bridged five decades, Doug Sahm was a rock and roll innovator whose influence can only be matched among his fellow Texas musicians by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Texas Tornado vividly captures the energy and intensity of this musician whose life burned out too soon, but whose music continues to rock.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, ‘She’s About a Mover,’ and I had a hit record [‘Like a Rolling Stone’] at the same time. So we became buddies back then, and we played the same kind of music. We never really broke apart. We always hooked up at certain intervals in our lives. . . . I’d never met anyone who’d played on stage with Hank Williams before, let alone someone my own age. Doug had a heavy frequency, and it was in his nerves. . . . I miss Doug. He got caught in the grind. He should still be here." (Bob Dylan)

"I once made the analogy that Doug was like St. Sebastian—pierced by 1,000 arrows—but instead of blood, talent coming out of every wound. I really regard him as the best musician I ever knew, because of his versatility, and the range of his information and taste." (Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records producer)

Review

"Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, ‘She’s About a Mover,’ and I had a hit record [‘Like a Rolling Stone’] at the same time. So we became buddies back then, and we played the same kind of music. We never really broke apart. We always hooked up at certain intervals in our lives. . . . I’d never met anyone who’d played on stage with Hank Williams before, let alone someone my own age. Doug had a heavy frequency, and it was in his nerves. . . . I miss Doug. He got caught in the grind. He should still be here." (Bob Dylan)

"I once made the analogy that Doug was like St. Sebastian—pierced by 1,000 arrows—but instead of blood, talent coming out of every wound. I really regard him as the best musician I ever knew, because of his versatility, and the range of his information and taste." (Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records producer)

Top customer reviews

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In this book, Jan Reid writes that Austin guitar icon, David Grissom came to Austin from Lubbock where he started with Joe Ely. WRONG! Grissom came to Austin from his home state of Indiana, long after Joe had moved from Lubbock to Austin with origintal guitar player and Lubbock native, Jesse Taylor. Grissom didn't join Ely's band until the late 80's. If you know anything about the Lubbock / Austin connection you should at least know that. This makes me wonder how many other statements he makes i this book are incorrect.

Although I am a Doug Sahm fan, I found this book difficult to read; perhaps it's just the writing that I don't care for. Doug Sahm did, indeed, have an interesting life and perhaps other fans would enjoy the book.

No one had written a book on Doug Sahm that I know of, despite all the good copy he has provided Rolling Stone and Texas Monthly over the years, not to mention, I presume, thousands of issues of Austin, Texas freebies and rags. From the Sir Douglas Quintet to the Texas Tornados is a ride as long as a trip through Texas and the story is well told here by Jan Reid.

Doug Sahm was one of those rare musicians who never had a day job, a fact which is pointed out in the book. He was also in the business 50 years...there is a photograph of a very young Doug sitting on the knees of Hank Williams, he was a performer even then ("Little" Doug Sahm) In a particularly striking passage, the author writes Sahm had inhaled the whiskey breath of Hank. No wonder Bob Dylan was his friend for so long, and the bio is littered with a few wonderful little anecdotes and quotes from Dylan.

Additionally, the Impressive, powerful man known as Augie Meyers played with Dylan, and he is on nearly every page, having played in so many groups with Doug one could loose track. A giant of a man with a pony tail down to his ass, Augie pretty much invented the Vox and Farfisa sound in pop music, and used it to great Tex-Mex advantage in all the incarnations Sahm assumed in his long, long, long career. He has also contributed keyboards to some of Dylan's late work.

The author previously wrote "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" which I also enjoyed. A good read about a wonderful character with one of the great rock and roll voices, and highly recommended. Appropriately published by the University of Texas Press.Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb (and Essays on Bob Dylan by Jim Linderman)

This is another fine book by Jan Reid with a lot of help from Doug's son, Shawn. It is a quick read; it keeps moving, providing enough details without getting bogged down like some biographies can. Doug was an amazing, versatile and prolific artist, playing and writing music his entire life - fifty years without ever holding a day job! Born, raised and spending much of his life in Texas, he was very influenced by the Tex-Mex sound, but he was equally at home playing country, blues, pop, rock and even jazz. Doug spent part of the sixties in California where he met, played and toured with many of the leading artists of the day, including CCR and the Grateful Dead. Later in his career, he toured in Europe, where he was even an even bigger hit than he was in America. This was an enjoyable book, and one that I am sure I will read again at some point in the future. Doug - you left us too soon, but you also left us with an amazing body of work which will be enjoyed for generations to come. If you are a music buff, I think you will enjoy this book!

Sahm was my all-time musical hero, and Reid has done a really good job of covering his life from early childhood steel guitar prodigy to his death in New Mexico while on the road, at age 56 (I always thought he was 57 when he died, but the news reports I read then must have been wrong).

In addition to learning a lot about Sahm's history, I also got a lot from this book in terms of musical figures in 1950s and 1960s San Antonio. I ended up looking into their music, and found a whole new world to groove on. Thanks, Jan.

A very good read. If you are like me and can't get enough of Sir Doug, you'll like this book. It covers his life from the very early days to his untimely death but is quite sparse in detail about the latter stages of his career; from the Atlantic years onward. It is well written and very easy to read and includes some lovely, and rare, photos. While the definitive biography on Doug has yet to be written, this will do until then.

Great biography of the Texas icon Doug Sahm. His whole career and life are here. He began in Texas, became part of the California music scene and went back to his Texas roots. His life is examined warts and all with a lot of imput from his son Shawn. BTW- check out Shawn's music. He has a solo career, the Tex-Mex Experience and he re-grouped the Texas Tornados with Flaco and Augie..DOUG RULES..

If you are someone that grew up in the 60"s and a music fan,you'll find Texas Tornado educational,entertaining ,and somewaht amusing.Texas Tornado provides details of a rock and rollers life from early childhood to his death.No holds are barred nor details hidden but a straight true story of a rock and roll icon to some and a forgotten star to others.If you know who Doug Sahm is and was you'll enjoy Texas Tornado.